258 LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



bye, was the first to catch hounds— fared well or badly according as they 

 were mounted. Certainly, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. 

 Sheppard for smashing a thick bar that blocked one gateway. Mr. Waters 

 earned similar gratitude for making matchwood of another. 



Horses were evidently getting blown, and Mr. Jones's coming down for 

 about the fourth time was not asked the question again. Those who in this 

 stern chase had not pressed their horses beyond their stride now came to the 

 front, for the run was not nearly over, and they included the Master, Messrs. 

 Ridley, Fowler, E. Ball, Waters, Hull, and a man* on a wonderful chesnut 

 pony. Crossing the road, we ran up to Broomshaw Bury, and leaving it on 

 the right, hounds ran over a beautiful line of country and easy fences at a 

 somewhat reduced pace. The huntsman's horse, thoroughly cooked, 

 refused to jump any longer, and still hounds ran on. Mr. Chaffey Collin 

 most generously lending Bailey his horse, he soon caught them ; nor did 

 they require any assistance before Barrington Hall was reached, when fifty 

 minutes from the find the curtain fell on as pretty a play as was ever placed 

 before Essex sportsmen. I regret that I cannot add sportswomen, for not 

 one remained to see it. There was a great demand that night for gruel, tea, 

 fresh-boiled eggs, and the last cigar at the hostelry in Hatfield town, and it 

 was nearer eight than seven before many of us reached home. 



Mr. Chciffey Collin, whose portrait, together with that of 

 his good horse " Cedric," adorns these pages, comes of a good 

 old Essex family which for many years had been identified with 

 fox-hunting in their county. Known as " Long Collin " by 

 his friends, and their name is legion, he has never taken for his 

 motto, " Look before you leap," or, faith, he would never have 

 got over so many of the big places with which he and his good 

 horse " Cedric " have been credited. A notable jump was 

 that near Man W^ood, the great evening run alluded to before, 

 when he brought Jack Turner, the only one who attempted 

 to follow him, on that grand performer " Catapult," to fearful 

 grief. The mare split her pastern on landing and rolled over, 

 but, strange to say, got over the accident so well that it 

 did not stop her winning a brace of point-to-point races in 

 subsequent seasons. Twenty-six feet four inches this little 

 leap measured. Mr. Collin generally rides in mufti, and his 

 brown coat, if a stranger can keep his eye on it, is a beacon 

 good enough to follow. No one loves the Essex country 

 more, and after a few days in the fashionable grass countries 

 in 1898 he remarked to me that he preferred a blank day in 

 Essex to a day in a strange country, however good the latter 

 might be. Mr. Collin, however, would rather that I should 

 sing of his horse than himself. " Cedric " had only seen 

 hounds once when Mr. Collin purchased him in 1891, but in 

 such hands he soon became a very clever and accomplished 



Lord Brooke's tutor. 



